Description
Democracy today confronts numerous challenges, including the influence of digital technologies, evolving social and political pluralism, and declining political engagement. This research explores unconventional avenues to address these issues, focusing on Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) Online as a unique space for fostering political engagement. This interdisciplinary project ventures into rarely explored territories within international studies, engaging with groups overlooked by scholars to propose novel opportunities for political engagement, challenging its conventional definitions. Amid global public distrust in traditional political institutions, the study employs mixed methods—digital ethnography, surveys, and interviews—to examine political processes in this non-traditional context. Addressing critical questions about who is engaged and where, the project takes research to a site which lifts barriers facing traditional engagement. By scrutinising explicit and implicit political processes in GTA V Online, the research contributes to broader discussions on evolving modes of engagement, offering insights to support democracies in the contemporary world.
